CHAPTER XVII.

MESSENGER AND HIS ANCESTORS.

Messenger the greatest of all trotting progenitors—Record of pedigrees in English Stud Book—Pedigrees made from unreliable sources—Messenger’s right male line examined—Flying Guilders’ “mile in a minute”—Blaze short of being thoroughbred—Sampson, a good race horse—His size; short in his breeding—Engineer short also—Mambrino was a race horse with at least two pacing crosses: distinguished only as a progenitor of coach horses and fast trotters—Messenger’s dam cannot be traced nor identified— Among all the horses claiming to be thoroughbred he is the only one that founded a family of trotters—This fact conceded by eminent writers in attempting to find others.

Having completed a brief historical sketch of horse history from the beginning, and many events connected therewith, we are now ready to consider the American Trotting Horse, as the culmination of what has been written. Thus far we have met with much pretentious nonsense, claiming to be history and written by men who never gave the subject the study of an honest hour. The horse is honest enough, but the rule seems to be almost universal that whenever men commence to write about him they are guided by their imagination and not by the facts. As to what we are to meet in the coming chapters, I can only say that, unfortunately, “the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” The instinct to misrepresent has been transmitted, and I cannot promise that we will find any great moral improvement among the horsemen of our own country and generation.

For more than three-quarters of a century, and indeed from the first trotting experiences of this country that have been preserved, it has been the unanimous judgment of all who have given any thought or attention to the subject that the imported English horse, Messenger, was the great central source of trotting speed. As the years have rolled by this opinion has increased in strength until it has become an intelligent and demonstrated belief. When, forty years ago, a horse was found able to trot a mile in two minutes and thirty seconds, the speed was deemed wholly phenomenal, but that speed has been increased, second by second, until we are now on the very brink of two minutes. In this process every second and fraction of a second that has been cut off has been so much additional proof of the universal belief that Messenger was the chief progenitor of the American trotter. He is not the only source of trotting speed, but he is the chief source. Whence he derived this distinctive power to transmit trotting speed will be made more clear as we proceed. His blood left no deep nor lasting impress upon the running horses of the country, and it is seldom we meet with any trace of it in the running horse of to-day, but it is prominent and conspicuous at the winning post of every trotting track on this continent. This will be made apparent when we come to consider the details and the merits of the mighty tribes and families that have descended from him.

Several years ago I promised to write a volume on “Messenger and his Descendants,” and I have often been reminded of that unfulfilled promise, which I will here try to redeem. When that promise was made I had written many things about Messenger, but since then I have secured very many valuable facts that, I think, will far more than compensate for the delay. There is still much that is unknown and much that is only partially known of the origin and history of Messenger and his ancestors, and in considering the questions that will arise as the discussion progresses, I will not submit to a slavish acceptance of whatever has come down in the shape of stallion advertisements, or as unsupported traditions, and then recorded as facts by people who knew nothing about them, and made no effort to know. I shall look for the facts that are known to be facts, or such evidence as is reasonable and commends itself to an unbiased judgment, and then reach such conclusions as right reason shall dictate. The pedigree of Messenger, or rather the pedigree of Messenger’s reputed grandam, appears in the English Stud Book in the editions of 1803 and 1827, in the following form:

REGULUS MARE (Sister to Figurante). Her dam by Starling, out of Snap’s dam. 1769, b. f. by Herod (dam of _Alert_). } 1770, bl. c. _Hyacinth_, by Turf. } Mr. Vernon. 1771, bl. c. _Leviathan_ (aft. Mungo), by Marske. Lord Abingdon. 1773, — f. by Turf. } 1774, — f. by Ditto (dam of _Messenger_). } 1777, bl. f. by Dux. } Lord Grosvenor. 1780, b. f. by Justice (dam of _Equity_). } 1782, b. c. Vulcan, by Justice. Mr. Panton. 1783, b. c. _Savage_, by Sweetbriar. } 1784, b. f. _Ariel_, by Highflyer (dam of Mr. } Mr. Bullock. Hamilton’s Swindler, by Bagot). }

This is all we have of the pedigree of Messenger as recorded in the English Stud Book, and this record, on its face, has a very suspicious appearance. Messenger had run some races at Newmarket and a place must be provided for him in the Stud Book. He always ran as a son of Mambrino, and there is no doubt this is correct, as it so appeared in the Racing Calendar, long before the days of the Stud Book. But nobody, either then or later, seemed to know anything about his dam. Toward the close of this